


Between the Pages

by head_full_of_fish



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Academic, Aged up characters, Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Library, College, Dark Academia, F/M, Fluff and Smut, I really just needed kurapika to go to college, Library Sex, Self-Insert, Slow Dancing, Smut, The machi/pakunoda/shizuku dynamic of my dreams, kurapika gets a little bold about the things that he wants, y/n
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-07
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-17 20:53:28
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28606263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/head_full_of_fish/pseuds/head_full_of_fish
Summary: You work at a library and after hours, you run into a college student named Kurapika who you've never met before. An accidental meeting turns into a friendship that quickly turns into something else entirely. You never thought that shelving books could be so fun.
Relationships: Kurapika (Hunter X Hunter)/Reader, Machi/Pakunoda/Shizuku, Pokkle/Ponzu (Hunter X Hunter)
Comments: 16
Kudos: 93





	1. Our Meet-Cute was Really a Meet-Scare

**Author's Note:**

> Please use this chrome extension while reading for a more immersive experience: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/interactivefics/pcpjpdomcbnlkbghmchnjgeejpdlonli?hl=en - InteractiveFics. It lets you change the Y/N to your actual name! Enjoy!

It had been such a long day and I was exhausted. It had started with my group project members showing up to the meeting with none of their work done and had ended with my coworker Ging pretending to be sick so that he could leave an hour early to hotbox his car in the parking lot. He hadn’t even had the decency to act sorry for leaving me alone in the stacks for the last two hours.

I had been working at the university library for almost two months now, and it had lost some of the inherent magic that these places of knowledge always held. I guess even the beauty of literature could be undercut when you knew about the drippy spot in the east corner of the third floor, or when you knew which book carts to avoid because they had squeaky wheels.

It was an hour past closing time and I still had an hour of shelving left before I would stamp my time card and head home for the night. And from what I had discovered from my meeting with my classmates earlier in the day, it seemed like my sleep would be forfeit if I was going to end up with a decent grade in Medieval Literature this semester. Bastards.

With a sigh I pushed my cart through the stacks, nodding my head along to the music that was playing through my headphones. Hozier had long been my companion as I worked here, and his voice was whispering through the speakers now, drowning out everything else with the words, “And tell me if somehow some of it remained, how long you would wait for me? How long I've been away?”

It was loud enough that I didn’t hear the footsteps that had been making their way towards me, nor the clearing of someone’s throat as they fought to get my attention.

I shrieked and dropped the book that I had been up on my tiptoes trying to shelve as someone tapped my shoulder. I yanked my headphones out of my ears, eyes wide and heart pounding, as I whirled to see who was there. 

“You scared the _shit_ out of me, man!” The words were out of my mouth before I took in who was standing there, his face already in an apologetic wince.

“I am terribly sorry. I really did not mean to frighten you.” Though he words were oddly formal, the tone of his voice and the earnestness in his eyes told me that he genuinely hadn’t meant to scare me. I blinked, dumbfounded for a beat as my brain finally processed the person standing beside me in the stacks.

He was… beautiful. There were no other words to better describe him. He had sunshine blonde hair that was half-up and half-down, with the longest strands just brushing his shoulders. His eyes were a dark brown that looked almost black in the shadows of the book stacks and they were hidden behind a pair of red-framed glasses. Red jewels hung from his ears and I saw that his left eyebrow was pierced. He had on a hoodie that seemed to swallow him whole, along with sweats and white Adidas. But even in the casual attire, there was no denying how attractive he was.

I caught myself after a moment of gawking and hoped that he had mistaken my oogling for shock. He didn’t seem offended by my blatant staring, so it was possible that I had gotten away with it unnoticed.

I closed my mouth, not even knowing when it had fallen open, and put my hands on my hips. My mouth set into a hard frown. Pretty or not, this boy was just wandering around the library an hour after we had locked the doors for the night.

“What are you still doing here?” I demanded. “Didn’t you hear the last call an hour ago?”

He looked sheepish at that, glancing down as if he was embarrassed. I noticed that the tips of his ears turned a little pink as he said, “I fell asleep on the fourth floor, I’m so sorry.”

“Oh,” I said, instantly mollified. I had done the same a few times myself, though usually one of the librarians would come by and kick me out before they locked the doors. On the fourth floor, he said…

“Ging,” I muttered his name under my breath like a curse. He told me that he had checked all the floors for any stragglers, but obviously I shouldn’t have put much faith in his word.

“I’m sorry?” He posed the words as a question now and I waved my hand vaguely, “It’s nothing,” I said, “I think my coworker must have missed you while he was doing a walkthrough before we locked up for the night.”

“Ah,” the boy said, obviously clueless as to what I was talking about. I saw his gaze dart down to the floor and I followed it, noticing the book that I had dropped when he had startled me.

I stooped down to get it, but my fingers brushed against his right as my fingertips were about to reach the cover. My head shot up in surprise, I hadn’t realized that he had also been trying to grab the book. Our gazes met, now only a few inches away from one another. We crouched there dumbly for a heartbeat, just looking at one another. I realized that he was staring at me just as intently as I had been looking at him and my cheeks flushed under the appraisal.

He shook his head a bit, as if freeing himself from a trance, and grabbed the book from underneath my outstretched fingers, folding himself back up into a standing position. I followed suit, the atmosphere between us suddenly awkward with the moment we had just shared.

He held the book out to me and I tried to ignore the feeling of his fingers as I grabbed the book from him and clutched it to my chest.

I cleared my throat, “Well, anyway,” I was looking everywhere but his face right now. What in the world was going on? We had barely touched hands for a second, what did I have to be so embarrassed about? “I guess that I should unlock the doors for you so you can head out. Sorry for trapping you in here on accident.”

He held his hands up, palms facing towards me, and shook them a bit, “No, no, please. You have nothing to apologize for. It was my mistake. I’m sorry to be an inconvenience.”

I shrugged, “Don’t worry about it. Trust me, you have been the least inconvenient person that I’ve dealt with all day.”

He let out a soft laugh at that and some of the odd tension between us melted, “Then you must have had a rough day.”

I cracked a grin, “You have no idea,” and even though my day _had_ been worst than most, the smile felt genuine. 

“Please, let me introduce myself,” the boy said, holding a hand out for me to shake, “My name is Kurapika.”

I grasped his hand and shook it, shocked at the warmth, “Hi. I’m Y/N. Nice to meet you.”

I dropped his hand and set the book that my other hand had been clutching onto down on the cart. The sound echoed through the library and we both chuckled a bit at the sudden noise in the quiet.

Kurapika glanced at the full cart of books and frowned a bit.

“What?” I asked.

“Nothing, nothing. I just…” He pulled a phone out of his pocket and glanced at the time, “How late are you usually here?”

I sighed, “Normally until 10 but I may have to stay a bit later to get all of this done,” I said with a gesture to the cart between us.”

“I don’t want to come off weird or anything, but,” Kurapika hesitated, biting his bottom lip as if debating whether or not to actually finish his sentence, “would you like some help? I know this library pretty well and I’ve had the Dewey decimal system down since I was in elementary.”

I laughed, “Oh man, you’re worse than I am.” I considered his offer for a moment. Normally I would have shot down the offer immediately, but I had a group project that had to be finished when I got home and Ging had screwed me over by leaving early. 

Plus, there was something about this guy that I couldn’t help but like. He seemed shy but genuine, and some part of me wanted to figure him out a bit more. He was like some strange library cryptid that had appeared to help me when deadlines were looming.

I shrugged, “That would actually be a huge help. But only if you wanted to. I promise I won’t keep you locked inside if you change your mind.”

Kurapika’s mouth split into a grin, “You say that now, but once you see how fast I shelve you’ll never let me leave.”

“Yeah, I’ll believe it when I see it. Let’s see you put your mouth where your money is, Kurapika.”

His answering smile was nothing but trouble, “With pleasure, Y/N.”

* * *

We ended up shelving the cart in record time it was only 9:45 when Kurapika and I were standing outside of the library while I finished locking up for the night. We hadn’t talked much while the two of us had shelved, just listened to music that I had playing from my phone speakers. Every now and again I could have sworn that I heard Kurapika singing quietly from a shelf or two away.

“So now that you’ve seen all of the glamour of working in a library, has it lost some of its charm?” I asked.

Kurapika gave me a small smile, “I wouldn’t say that.”

I wasn’t sure what to make of that, or what to say back so I held up a hand in farewell, readying to leave this strange encounter and person behind and get started on my project. But before I could fully turn away, Kurapika called out, “Wait, Y/N. Please let me walk you back to your dorm. It’s rather late.”

Although I had never had any problems late at night on campus, I shrugged, “Sure, why not? Thank you.”

I wasn’t one to turn down spending a few more minutes alone with a handsome boy, even if he was practically a stranger to me. Had he given me any bad vibes at all, I would have kicked him out of the library from the beginning. Plus, rather than seeming overly concerned, it seemed like he just wanted to wander around for a bit longer. Offering to stay late and help me shelve books and now this. It seemed like he was avoiding going back to something.

We started off towards my dorm, passing by a few students that were still wandering around in search of friends, food, or places to study. I had always loved the campus at night. It felt like there was a blanket laying over everything, muffling the chaos, and even if I had deadlines looming, the walk from the library to my dorm room had always left me feeling calmer than before.

“So, Kurapika,” I said, turning my attention to the quiet boy beside me. His face turned towards mine, open and curious, “What were you working on so late at the library.”

He sighed, absently tucking a few strands of hair behind his ear, “I’m working on this project for my Cultural Anthropolgy class and I haven’t been able to find much information on the topic that I’m wanting to write about. It’s really open-ended and our professor is trying to use this as a way to get a start on our thesis, but I’m starting to think that I chose the wrong topic.”

“What is it about?” I asked, genuinely curious. I had never taken any anthropology classes, but my roommate Ponzu had taken a few and they sounded fascinating. Last semester she had been knee-deep in a project about entomophagy for the better part of a month and I now had a surprising amount of knowledge about the history of bug-eating that I had vicariously picked up from listening to her rants.

“I wanted my thesis to cover the erasure of cultural genocide by Western society, but most of the resources we have in the library are written by Western historians at the time, so it isn’t the most reliable material to work with. I’ve been searching for accounts from victims, but that’s the whole issue about cultural genocide...”

“No culture remains,” I finished for him. “And I suppose that includes any literature that culture produced.” He nodded. 

He sighed again, his eyes dropping down to the ground as we walked, “I just don’t want to give up on this, you know? I decided my freshman year of college that I wanted to write about this topic and now that I finally have the chance to- I’m just not willing to give up so easily.”

“That’s kind of amazing,” I said and Kurapika’s eyes shot up to meet mine, surprise lighting them. I don’t know what response he had expected, but it certainly wasn’t that. I shrugged, “Just, I don’t know, people come to college to supposedly pursue what they love, but it’s really rare for someone to have a real passion for what they are studying. And to have your passion and conviction about this to be strong enough that you aren’t opting to take the easy route and just write about something easier, I just think that’s kind of amazing.”

Kurapika’s eyes were wide and he just stared at me for a bit before quietly saying, “Thank you. That-that means a lot.”

And maybe it was the magic that the campus at night held, maybe it was the honesty that he seemed to constantly exude, but for one reason or another I said, “You know, I work on Wednesday and Friday nights. If you ever wanted to stay late at the library and study, just let me know. My coworker usually bails on me right when we close to the public anyway, so no one would know.”

He blinked a few times, “Really? You would let me stay there and work on my paper?” I nodded. 

“Thank you so much!” And he sounded excited, younger looking than I had seen him act yet. We had reached my dorm, and he halted by the door.

“Thank you for walking me back. And thank you for the help with shelving.”

One side of his lips tugged up in a smile, “You’re quite welcome. It was lovely to meet you, Y/N.” He grabbed my hand lightly in his own and pulled it to his lips, pressing a soft kiss against my knuckles.

“Goodnight.” 

When my brain finally caught up to the present, he was already walking back down the steps and into the dark of the night. I shook my head and let my hand fall from where I had left it suspended in the air, as if still reaching towards that phantom touch.

I turned around and walked into my dorm building, making a point not to turn back around and look towards the stranger who had just appeared in my life. Making a point not to wonder too deeply about him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I have more chapters coming soon (with some more steamy content)


	2. Staying Up Late is Never a Good Look

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/interactivefics/pcpjpdomcbnlkbghmchnjgeejpdlonli?hl=en - InteractiveFics. Please use this extension for a better reading experience! Enjoy!

“You look like shit, Y/N,” Ponzu said as she stretched in the morning sun, “Did you sleep at all?” I shot her a glare from my seat at my desk before turning back to my work. I had _not_ slept, in fact, and her exaggerated yawning and stretching were making me jealous in a way that I did not want to say, lest I offend her first thing in the morning. 

The little work that my group members had done had turned out to be completely useless, so I had stayed up through the night finishing the project on my own. I had texted Pariston, one of my group members, around 3 am and had made him swear that he would present the project so long as I actually managed to finish it. I was sending him the last of the files now, along with a rather threatening text message, and my bed was beckoning. 

I heard the door open and close and assumed that Ponzu had left for classes, but a few minutes later the door squeaked open again and someone was pressing a cold can into my neck.

I jumped and cursed a bit at the cold and I heard Ponzu giggle at my reaction. I grabbed the can and groaned in pleasure when I read the label. 

“I thought you could use a pick-me-up,” Ponzu said, holding a steaming cup of tea up to her face and breathing in deeply, “Though I really don’t get why you liked iced coffee in the winter. Seems unnatural.”

“I don’t have to wait for it to cool down. Maximum caffeine consumption, Ponzu, it’s important.”

“Apparently.” She walked over and plopped down on my bed. I rolled my eyes but didn’t say anything. Ponzu and I had been roommates for two and a half years now, and the lines of ‘whose part of the room is whose’ had long since blurred.

“So,” she continued, “Are you going to at least tell your prof about your slacker members, or are you going to let them get off scot-free again?”

My silence must have been answer enough because she snorted, “Figures.”

I pressed send on the last email to Pariston and leaned back in my chair, letting my head hang off the back, and closed my eyes.

“I could sleep for three days and it wouldn’t be enough.”

“Yeah, you could. But you won’t.” 

I snorted, “Yeah, you’re right about that.” With a huge sigh, I hauled myself up into a standing position, popped the tab on the canned coffee Ponzu had brought, and chugged half of it in one go.

“Damn, girl. I’ve seen freshmen shotgun a beer with less gusto than that.”

“What can I say, I’ve got a lot to do. No time to sit around and enjoy my coffee. I’ve gotta make it get right to the point.”

“Like I said,” she took a small sip of her tea, “Unnatural. At this point, you should just inject the caffeine straight into your veins.”

“Yes please, Ponzu. Next time don’t even bother with the coffee, a syringe will do just fine.”

Somehow I managed to haul myself out of the chair and start putting myself together for the day. Twenty minutes later I was running out of the door, wrangling my now-wet hair back into a ponytail.

The door was almost entirely shut behind me when I heard Ponzu call out a quiet, “Good luck,” from her perch on my bed. It was going to be a long day.

Miraculously, I made it through my first and second lectures without falling asleep, though I doubted any of my notes were coherent. I had two hours off before my third class, and I used the time to hunt down Pariston before he had to present the project just to make sure he actually looked over the material first.

After sending a few texts that _could_ be classified as bullying, I finally was able to convince him to meet up with me outside of the Student Union building.

I saw him raise a hand in greeting as I walked up and returned the gesture, though I would have rather sent him another one entirely. Whatever. At least he could talk. In a class last semester called “The 18th-Century Novel,” he had filibustered the professor into swapping the third Jean-Jaques Rousseau novel for Mary Shelley’s _Frankenstein_. I swear Professor Knov had only agreed so Pariston would shut up.

He had that fake smile plastered on his face that didn’t reach his eyes, “Hey, Y/N.”

“Hey, Pariston. Did you get a chance to look over the PowerPoint and the essay that I sent you?”

He nodded, “Yes. Though I don’t see the point of bringing me here to confirm it.” I guess my glare reflected my animosity because he raised his hands in surrender, “Sorry, sorry. I should thank you for doing so much work, but trust me, I won’t let us trip at the finish line.” 

Jackass.

After having Pariston go through all of the slides one more time in front of me (I never trusted a word that slimeball said), I let him scamper away to wherever he needed to be before our lecture started. 

As soon as he left I felt my whole body sink into the chair a bit. I had been running on caffeine and stress all day, and now that I actually knew that our project wasn’t going to crash and burn, my sleepless night was catching up to me in full. I leaned forward and crossed my arms on the table, resting my chin on them. 

I really should go look for some food, but the thought of getting up and waiting in line seemed more than I was capable of at the moment, so I just sat and tried to work up the energy to stand…

“Hey, Y/N, is that you?” I jerked my head up, my eyes blinking rapidly as I tried to find whoever was calling my name.

When my vision finally focused, a boy with golden blonde hair was standing in front of me. In a navy button-up and fitted brown pants, I almost didn’t recognize him. Kurapika’s hair was pulled back into a neat bun and he looked a little sheepish standing there.

“Sorry,” he said after I failed to do anything but stare dumbly at him. I was still waking up, but _damn_ I needed to get a grip.

“I didn’t realize that you were asleep.”

I ran a self-conscious hand through my hair as if moving a few strands of it would make my messy appearance any less mortifying, “No, you’re fine, really. I guess I dozed off.”

Honestly, it was just the cherry on top of today that he looked so nice while I was dressed like this. 

Kurapika wasn’t looking at me with disgust though, so I supposed that was something. No, he just seemed concerned. Maybe that was worse.

“What are you up to today?” I asked, waving a hand towards his outfit.

His cheeks turned a little pink and he absently ran a hand across the back of his head, letting out a small laugh, “Oh, nothing really. I just wanted to wear something nice since I was dressed like such a slob yesterday.” 

I thought back to his hoodie and then glanced down at myself, a small smile spreading on my lips.

“Oh my god!” His cheeks were bright red now, “No I didn’t mean it like that,” he was waving his hands, trying to dissipate his words, “There’s nothing wrong with wearing sweats, I just-”

I started laughing, and he paused, “Seriously, it’s okay. I know that’s not what you meant.”

He looked more than a little relieved that I hadn’t bitten his head off at that.

“Anyway,” he said, clearly trying to move on from the subject of clothing, “what about you? Do you have anything going on today?”

“Yeah. I had to stay up working on a project that is being presented today. Thus,” I gestured at myself, “The state that I’m in and the eye-bags that I’m sure are impressive.”

“Ah, I see,” was all he said in reply. But a small smile was curling one corner of his mouth. God, he was attractive. 

“What time is your presentation?”

I glanced down at my phone, checked the time, and shot out of my chair, “ _Shit!_ Sorry I have to go! I’m about to be late!”

I was gathering up my things as I ran off towards class. Thankfully it was only two buildings over. I just might make it before roll was called if I ran. 

“I’ll see you around, Y/N,” Kurapika called as I ran off, his voice echoing off the buildings and looking like he was fighting off a smile. For some reason, hearing him call out my name did something to my stomach, and I think I ran just a bit faster because of it.

I made it to class with a full minute to spare.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! The next chapter is already underway and I'll probably post it sometime tomorrow or the next day. Promise it'll be longer than this one!


	3. Kiss and Tell

“Machi, for the last time, I’m not going to some frat party so you can try and make your girlfriend jealous while you make out with some random dude. I’m not in the mood to do damage control tonight.”

“Okay, first of all,” the voice on the other end of the phone sounded tinny through my phone’s speaker, “Shizuku is not my girlfriend,” I rolled my eyes. I had just gotten back to my dorm from closing the library, and even though it was a Friday, after the week that I had, I was perfectly content to continue laying on my bed doing nothing. A party required more effort than I was really willing to give at the moment.

“Second of all, she’s out of town anyway, so she won’t be there.”

“You know if you spent like five minutes telling her how you actually feel, you could save all of us a lot of trouble, Machi.”

“Ha. Ha. Very funny. You know that Shizuku doesn’t want to date anyone. She’s told me those words exactly more times than I can count, Y/N. I’m not going to waste my time trying to convince someone to go out with me who obviously is not interested.”

I rolled my eyes again. I had been privy to Shizuku saying those words to Machi before, but Machi always seemed to miss the heavy implication that Shizuku just meant she wouldn’t go out with anyone aside from _Machi_. Whatever, I wasn’t going to stick my nose any further into their business. I was dragged into the Shizuku/Machi drama practically every other weekend and I had no desire to involve myself more.

“But that is not what this is about, Y/N! You need to come out! I know you’ve had a crazy week. Pakunoda told me that she saw you on the campus green last week and you didn’t even respond to her.”

I frowned, “I didn’t see Pakunoda last week.”

“That’s my point! You’re way too hyperfocused on school right now! You’re like a little robot-zombie when I see you on campus. You need a night to loosen up.”

There was a pause before Machi continued, “Plus… I heard that someone invited students from the liberal arts department. You can sweet talk them with all your Austen and Poel quotes.”

“Poel?”

“You know, the guy with the bird or whatever.”

“You mean Poe.”

“Yeah! That’s the one.”

“C’mon, Machi I know that you know who Edgar Allen Poe is.”

“That’s not the _point_. The point is that you can impress someone with that overworked brain of yours and go shag in a closet or something. You’re in desperate need of a hook-up.”

Machi wasn’t going to let me get out of this one. I groaned, and she squealed, hearing it as the defeat that it was.

“Great! I’ll swing by your place in an hour to grab you! Oh, and see if Ponzu wants to come.” She hung up before I could answer and I let my hand holding the phone up to my ear plop onto the bed beside where my head was.

“Hey, Ponzu,” I said, not bothering to sit up. I was going to stay inert for as long as humanly possible.

“Yeah, bug, what’s up?” She swiveled around in her desk chair to look at me, her knees pulled up and tucked into her chest and her head resting on her knees.

“Want to go to a party tonight? Machi is dragging me out to some frat house against my will and I need an ally.” It wasn’t that I was against parties. I actually loved going out and letting loose every once in a while. It was just that I had an insane amount of coursework this semester and when I wasn’t in class, I was usually just at work or getting ready for classes so I didn’t fall behind.

“I don’t know,” Ponzu was chewing on her thumbnail, “Frat parties aren’t really my scene.”

I sat up in bed and gave her my best pouting face, sticking my bottom lip out and everything, “ _Please?_ For me? I don’t want to go into this alone.”

“You’ll have Machi,” she pointed out. I gave her a look that conveyed just how comforting _that_ thought was. Machi was known to slip away within the first ten minutes of any social gathering to god-knows-where and reappear hours later. 

Ponzu knew it, too, because she sighed. I swear I saw the will to deny my request wither away as she looked at me pleading face.

“Fine,” with the same defeated tone I had used just a few minutes earlier with Machi.

I hopped off the bed and planted a kiss on her cheek. She waved me off, but was smiling as I said, “Thank you, thank you! You’re a literal life-saver, Ponzu! What would I do without you?”

She shook her head and swiveled back around to her desk, “Crash and burn, bug. Crash and burn.”

An hour and a half later Ponzu and I were walking arm-in-arm out of the dormitory doors towards a figure with bright pink hair who was tapping her foot furiously.

“It’s about time! You two took ages!”

“Machi,” I said, “It’s only 9:30. Any earlier and we would have been the first ones there.”

She gave a little _harumph_ before looking us both up and down and giving us a nod of approval. By Machi standards, that was basically a gold medal. I felt a tinge of satisfaction go through me, and Ponzu bumped my hip with her own, obviously thinking the same.

I was clad in black skinny jeans and a cropped velvet top the color of merlot. My makeup was pretty minimal, but I had decided at the last minute to add winged eyeliner, and amazingly, I had managed to make it look passable in under ten minutes. 

Ponzu looked like a stoner’s dream in her high-waisted baggy jeans, Doc Martens, and her cropped Dirty Heads tee. She had opted to pull on a beanie instead of showering, and standing outside now, with the wind and my still-damp hair, I was beginning to think she had made the right call.

Machi had already turned and was walking away from us and towards the party ahead, calling back, “Hurry it up. I’m freezing!” Her white dress billowed around her thighs as she walked, and Ponzu and I quickened our steps to keep up.

Machi had kept up a constant stream of conversation as we walked, filling us in on all of the interpersonal relationships that we would no doubt encounter tonight.

Apparently, Machi’s friend, Pakunoda, had asked her to come as a favor because she was fighting with her boyfriend, Chrollo, and had wanted a night away from him. When I had asked if Chrollo was in the frat, Machi had actually scoffed at me and said that he was, “Too concerned with reminding everyone that he’s still the arrogant prick he’s always been to ever meddle with frats.” I just bit my lip and Ponzu had to physically clasp a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing.

Despite Chrollo dipping, Machi did say that most of their friends would be there. Machi’s friend group was huge and always filled with more drama than I cared to involve myself in, but they were some of the best people to party with.

It was just getting to the point where I was sure I was going to lose a finger to the cold whenever we rounded a corner and the sounds of rowdy college students greeted us from down the street.

Machi’s breakneck pace increased even further as we neared, and before we had even reached the door of the house, her bright pink ponytail had been swallowed up by the crowd. I was just so thankful that I had managed to convince Ponzu to come out with me. Otherwise, Machi’s disappearing act would have been a lot more worrisome.

Ponzu and I made our way through the entryway and into the kitchen, looking for a drink and familiar faces. I spotted a few guys from the English department passing a bong around. All it took was for me to catch one of them saying “the philosophy of Ayn Rand,” for me to abandon the idea of hanging out with them. I grabbed myself and Ponzu cups of beer, the foam splashing over the edge a bit and making my hands sticky. 

Drink in hand, we continued back into the house, trying to find a pocket of calm amidst all of the booming speakers and dancing bodies. The frat house felt like a maze, and after we had passed through a few more rooms I was sure I was never going to be able to find my way back out. 

Eventually, we found stairs leading down into the basement. The music floating up to us from the base of the stairs seemed calmer than the rest of the house’s music choice, so Ponzu and I chanced it and descended.

Walking into the basement, the thick smell of weed hung in the air. There was a couch on one side of the room facing a TV that was pushed up against a wall and two guys playing MarioKart were cussing each other out when one managed to push the other off of the course. One looked like he spent his days holed up inside hot-boxing his room and the other looked like a second-string football player. I wouldn’t have pegged the two for friends at first glance.

In the middle of the room, there were mismatched chairs that must have been pulled from every corner of the house forming a haphazard circle. Only about half of the chairs were filled. There was a guy with long legs and sunglasses despite the fact that we were inside sprawled on one of the chairs, mouth hanging open and snoring. Two boys that looked a year or two younger me were standing over the snoring guy, markers in hand with shit-eating grins on their faces.

I spotted a flash of bright pink hair from the corner of the room and started to walk over. Machi was talking to a girl that towered over her, and I recognized her blonde bob instantly.

“Pakunoda!” I called out in greeting, making my way over to them.

“Hey, Y/N! How are you? I feel like I haven’t seen you in ages.” Machi didn’t so much as acknowledge the fact that she had ditched Ponzu and I, and instead slung an arm over my shoulder.

“This girl works too hard, Paku.”

Pakunoda laughed low, “Tell me something I don’t know Machi,” She turned and took me in, “Every time I see you on campus, you look like an extra for _The Walking Dead_ that got rejected from the final cut.”

“Ouch.” I laughed it off, but she was right. The past couple of weeks had been nothing but a blur of due dates and ISBNs on the back of books I needed to re-shelve. The only change of pace had been the beautiful stranger, now not-so-stranger that had been in the library. Kurapika.

As if my thoughts had summoned him, I noticed movement in the corner of my vision and turned to see that sun-blonde boy walk into the room from the stairwell. 

“Kurapika!” The two boys who had drawn money signs on the long-legged guy’s eyelids now called out in unison. I watched as a soft smile spread across his face at the sight of them. He walked over and started talking to them, just gently smiling as the white-haired and black-haired boy’s were recounting some story that I couldn’t hear from where we stood.

I must have been staring, because Machi elbowed me in the ribs, “Who is _that_?” 

I shrugged my shoulders, “No one,” she gave me a disbelieving look, and I confessed, “I met him in the library one night and he helped me shelve for awhile, that’s all.” It had been almost two weeks since he had found me drooling in the courtyard, and I decided to not bring that particular encounter up to Machi. I would never hear the end of it.

“I mean that _could_ be all, or you could go over there right now and make sure that isn’t all there is to tell.”

I was still watching Kurapika, who hadn’t noticed me yet, while Machi gave her unsolicited advice. I thought back to the night at the library, the quiet capability and kindness that had been so unexpected. Over where he was standing, he laughed, bringing a hand up to his mouth as if to hide it. Again, I was breathless for a second, struck by how beautiful he was. 

He was wearing black jeans, Timberlands, and a white hoodie with a jean jacket pulled over the top. His hair was half-up and half-down again, with the upper part pulled back into a bun at the back of his head. He was laughing now at whatever those two boys had been telling him, and it lit up every part of his face. The lights overhead caught the red gems dangling from his ears and the metal stud in his eyebrow and a breath whooshed out of me at the sight.

“I don’t know Machi,” I said, turning back to face her, trying to hide the blush that had risen to my cheeks, “I don’t want to impede.”

“Impede?! This is a party, Y/N! The whole point is that we drink to much and get too involved in other people’s business. Now I’m telling you, go make that blonde your business!”

I turned to Pakunoda with a desperate expression, hoping she would dig me out of this hole that Machi was trying to throw me into. She just patted my shoulder before walking past me towards the boys and the messy circle of chairs, calling out, “Anyone want to play spin the bottle?”

The groups of people that were scattered about the room all turned and looked at her for half a heartbeat, assessing, before almost all of them came to join. Even the guy with the sunglasses and graffitied face roused himself enough to pull himself into a chair at her words. 

The only two who sat out were the ones playing MarioKart, though I swore I saw them both blink at Pakunoda for a beat before she threw them a wink. Machi was pushing Ponzu and I towards the circle before we had time to object and before I knew it we were seated in a semi circle. 

“Alright,” Pakunoda started, “Everyone knows how this works, yes?”

“C’mon, Paku, we’re not in middle school anymore. I think we all grasp the concept,” a boy with a huge smile on his face said. 

“Could have fooled me, Phinks.” That earned a couple of chuckles from around the circle, and that good-hearted smile was still plastered on the boy, Phink’s face, despite the jab. 

The spot across from me was vacant for only a second until a familiar face sank into the cream upholstery. Kurapika caught my eye and raised a hand in greeting, which I returned a bit sheepishly. He opened his mouth as if he were going to say something, but was cut off by Machi’s interjection of, “Alright, let’s get a move on! Who’s first?” His mouth quirked to the side a little, amused, and my stomach did a little flip at the look that I chose to ignore.

“Why don’t you start, Machi, if you’re so eager.” Pakunoda smiled sensually at her and Machi rose to the challenge that was in her eyes. 

The bottle spun and spun until it landed in front of the only other person with bubblegum-pink hair and he let out a low, sensual laugh. I had seen this guy around campus before, but he kind of creeped me out, so I had generally avoided him. I think he and his boyfriend, who was currently seated in his lap, were in the theater department. I couldn’t remember his name though... 

“Hisoka, don’t go getting a big head about this, alright? It literally means nothing, okay?”

Hisoka let out another sultry laugh, “Whatever you say, Machi,” and crooked a finger at her, beckoning.

Machi let out a long sigh before walking over to where he sat, leaned over his boyfriend who was scowling at her with dead eyes that looked almost black in this light, and planted a quick kiss on his lips.

The group laughed as Hisoka made a smacking sound with his lips and the bottle was spinning again. 

Around and around it went. Next, the guy who had been sleeping, who I discovered was named Leorio, had to kiss Hisoka’s boyfriend, Illumi, and managed to look so uncomfortable doing so that I physically cringed at the half-second of contact. A few more rounds passed and by this point, everyone had abandoned their seats in lieu of sitting cross -legged on the floor and within kissing reach of everyone. 

It was Pakunoda’s turn now, and she spun the bottle, smirking when it landed on Machi. The resulting kiss that would have had Shizuku fuming and left both girls that were present giggling and out of breath. I was sitting to the left of Pakunoda and suddenly it was my turn. I held my breath as I took the bottle in my hand and spun it. 

Even if the game was a bit childish, there was something about that little spike of adrenaline and anticipation that you got when you spun the bottle that made it intoxicating. I glanced up from the bottle and saw that Kurapika was staring at me from across the circle, his expression playfully challenging. His eyes were almost amber in the yellow light of the basement, like those brown irises had been brushed with the softest layer of red.

Did he...did he want the bottle to land on him?

Hell, _I_ wanted the bottle to land on him.

The thought blindsided me and left me blinking, suddenly embarrassed by the eye contact, breaking it by looking off to the side. I could feel the color rise on my cheeks in time with Machi screeching, “ZU ZU!”

Even though my shoulders loosened in relief, I couldn’t ignore that thing in my stomach that felt a bit like disappointment. Still, I turned to Ponzu, a smile spreading across my face. Ambitions for letting loose tonight aside, I was here for a good time and kissing my best friend sounded like a blast at the moment.

Ponzu and I kissed sloppily for a second, laughing around it, before breaking apart. I kept my head down though, even after the bottle had started spinning again, not wanting to meet Kurapika’s gaze. Not quite sure why.

A few more turns passed and it wasn’t until it was Kurapika’s turn that I finally raised my head to look up. HIs eyes never left mine as he took the bottle in his hand and spun it. The world seemed to slow as it spun and spun and spun in the periphery of my vision.

After an eternity, it stopped, and I tore my gaze away from Kurapika’s face to look at where the neck of the bottle was pointing. 

It was right between Pakunoda and I, as if fate were allowing me a way out. One look at Paku and I knew that one word and she would take this for me. She may have started the game to get me outside of my comfort zone, but she would never push me to do anything that I wasn’t comfortable with.

I sucked in a breath, but before I could say anything one way or the other, Machi asked rather loudly, “Who did it land on? I can’t tell!”

Without any pause, Kurapika spoke up, “Y/N.” There was no room for argument in that statement. The way he said it felt as factual as knowing that I was going to have a massive headache in the morning from all the drinks I had been downing as the game progressed.

My eyes shot up to his again, and they were crinkled around the corners, like he was fighting a smile off of his face. There was that playful challenge again, and I wasn’t going to be the one to back down.

“Kurapika’s right,” I said, grabbing the bottle and angling it towards myself so that it was now undoubtably facing me, “It landed on me.” 

Before I could think too much about it, I leaned across the circle, distantly aware of Ponzu’s open-mouthed stare and Machi’s laugh of approval.

My eyes fluttered shut as my lips met his, warm and gentle at first, then hungrier and deeper as the kiss stretched into heartbeats. I felt one of his hands reach up to cup my jaw, tilting my face up towards his more, and the other snaked around the sliver of skin that was exposed around my waist, urging me closer.

It took all of my willpower to not crawl across the circle entirely and situate myself in his lap, but I suddenly became acutely aware of the fact that we had an audience. I broke off the kiss, my eyes wide and chest heaving. How long had that just lasted? I had no clue. A few seconds? An eternity? Somehow, it felt like both.

Kurapika’s hand was still around my waist, and he was looking at me with the same expression I was sure I was giving him. His pupils had almost swallowed his irises whole and his lips were parted as he panted a little. There was desire in those eyes, but also something that looked a little bit like surprise, like he had been as shocked by how good that felt as I had.

I felt his hand slowly slip from my waist, as if he were reluctant to let it go, and I sat back into the spot where I had been sitting earlier, my cheeks flaming and my breath still not totally steady in my lungs.

Machi let out a low whistle and my face heated further, but the one sitting to the left of Kurapika, the boy with white hair, grabbed the bottle and started spinning it, so the spotlight on Kurapika and I was gone.

I met his gaze from across the circle and tried reading what was behind those eyes. He nodded back behind him, a signal for me to follow, before standing up and excusing himself. I was able to wait for two more people’s turns to pass before I was on my feet and padding up the stairs that led out of the basement after him.

I heard Machi and Pakunoda sharing a laugh behind me, and as I climbed the stairs, the smallest grin cracked on my face as well. 

This was turning out to be a good night, after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys sorry for the long wait!! This term has been getting pretty busy but I tried to make it longer since y’all had to wait awhile! This chapter was a lot of set up for things to come so stay tuned cause I’m pretty excited about the next few chapters! Thank you so much for reading <3


	4. The Best Kind of Apology

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so this fic is going to get a bit more *spicy* from here on out so I’m putting an age warning on it now! I hope you guys enjoy this chapter and look forward to more spicy chapters in the future! 
> 
> Also, be sure and use this extension if you can! It’ll make this fic a lot more fun to read!  
>  https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/interactivefics/pcpjpdomcbnlkbghmchnjgeejpdlonli?hl=en - InteractiveFics. enjoy!* 
> 
> (It will turn all the “Your Names” into your actual name!)

Kurapika was waiting for me at the top of the stairs, leaning against the doorframe. When he heard my footsteps, he pushed off of the wall.

“Please let me apologize,” He said, and I paused. This was not what I thought was going to happen when I had followed him up from the rest of the party.

“For what?”

“I feel like I may have pushed you into that kiss downstairs. You were obviously uncomfortable with it.”

“Uncomfortable?” I asked. My mind was spinning. He thought I hadn’t _wanted_ to kiss him?

“You would barely look at me. And I know that we don’t really know anything about one another. I’m sorry. It was presumptuous of me to-“

“Kurapika,” I cut him off, “I’m sorry to cut your apology short, but trust me when I say that you read my reaction wrong.”

He blinked a few times, as if my words were taking a few moments to take root for him.

“Oh.” He finally settled for.

“Yeah.”

“So... you _did_ want to kiss me?”

“Mhm.”

“And you followed me upstairs because... Oh.” He said again. I watched his face turn pink and then deepen into red as he realized what exactly I had been expecting, if an apology hadn’t been on my mind.

“But let me clarify,” I said, raising a palm, “Just because I was assuming something when I followed you up here doesn’t mean that you have to, um, do anything if you don’t want to.” God this was mortifying. But I wasn’t about to make Kurapika any more uncomfortable than he already was. Perhaps he wasn’t the only one who had been reading the room wrong. Maybe he didn’t really want me after all.

If that was the case, then I would go back downstairs, no questions asked. But if it wasn’t...

Kurapika stepped down the two stairs that still separated us, leaning into my space a bit, but not overwhelming me, “And if I _did_ want to do something?” His voice was low and a bit more hoarse than the last time he had spoken.

My heart might have skipped a little at that, but I ignored it and laced my fingers through the hand that was hanging by his side, leaning in and closing the space between us so my mouth was by his ear, “Then do your worst, Kurapika.”

I don’t think I imagined the slight shiver that ran through him at that.

He unlaced his hand from my own and slowly walked towards me, eyes smoldering with desire. I yielded a step. Then another. Then my back and palms were pressed to the wall and Kurapika had his hands braced on either side of my head.

He leaned in until our mouths were close enough that I couldn’t tell where my breath ended and his began, the space between us warming.

“My worst?” His right hand dropped from the wall, instead clinging to the curve of my side, sliding down from my ribs to rest at my waist and softly squeezing the exposed skin there, “Are you sure about that, Y/N?”

I shuddered in a breath. It was an effort to keep myself from latching my lips onto his, but this was a game, and I was playing to win. 

Instead, I moved my right hand from where it was pressed flush against the wall and trailed a finger down his chest. Even through his hoodie I could feel the dip in the middle of his chest. 

Our eyes were locked together, and that strange reddish color seemed to almost glow from within his brown eyes. Beautiful. 

I think I might have whispered it out loud.

I wasn’t sure Kurapika was breathing as my finger trailed a bit lower than his chest, towards his stomach. Then the lower part of his stomach.

As if he couldn’t hold himself back any longer, he sucked in a breath before closing the small distance between the two of us. His lips were urgent on my own, as if what had happened downstairs had done nothing but whet his appetite for this.

My palm flattened on one of his hips and he pressed in closer, until the back of my hand that was between us was pressed up against my own stomach. One of my legs wrapped around his calf and he hissed in a breath between kisses.

His lips curled back a bit and I felt his teeth scrape against my lips, beckoning them to open. I quickly obliged and his tongue swept in softly. He flicked his tongue against my upper lip and when an involuntary moan slipped out of me, he caught the sound with another kiss.

God he was _good_ at this. I had never made out with someone at a party while I was a little tipsy and even considered it decent, but this was... this was so much better than decent.

Kurapika broke off the kiss, leaning back a bit to look at my face, “God, Y/N, you’re absolutely stunning.” And the way he looked at me while he said it, I believed it.

His hand that had been tucking me in close at the waist moved to my front belt looped and tugged me towards him. I stumbled forward a bit at the momentum and he backed up with me until it was _him_ with his back pressed against the wall.

He was saying my name in between kisses, like they were his oxygen. I knotted both of my hands in his hair gently tugging the band around his bun until his hair fell loose around his face and relishing how soft it was between my fingertips. God, I could never get enough of this. 

My leg was curling back around his, my weight pressing him slightly into the wall, so that he had to lean back into it to keep us both upright. 

His free hand moved up to my face gently tilting my jaw so that he could have better access to my mouth.

“Couldn’t you two have found a room, at least?”

I flinched back from the kiss, my head swiveling to look down the stairs to where the voice had come from. Seeing Hisoka and Illumi there, the former with a seductive smile tilting his lips, and the latter looking as vacant as ever, I untangled myself from Kurapika and straightened out my top, which had gotten a little skewed in the midst of everything. 

I cleared my throat and pressed myself on the wall next to Kurapika, giving them room to pass and deigning not to answer at all. Kurapika’s fingers laced through my own, as if he couldn’t stand the sudden loss of contact. I didn’t really want to think about the fact that it felt like the most natural thing in the world. Not when whatever what between us was nothing more than one evening in a library and a quick make-out session in a stairwell. No need to get ahead of myself, here.

Hisoka just let out a low chuckle and walked past us before he said, “Don’t go having _too_ much fun now. Leorio might need you to carry him home, Kurapika.”

He sighed, but not unhappily after the odd pair had left the stairs entirely. I still hadn’t turned back to him, keeping my stance beside him along the wall. His forehead rested on my shoulder and I felt him start shaking. Was he crying? What the _fuck_ were you supposed to do if the boy you had just been making out with started sobbing out of no where?

After a few heartbeats of horror though, a noise sounded from Kurapika that was definitely not crying, and I realized that he was _laughing_. Relief and adrenaline and embarrassment from getting caught welled up in me and suddenly I was laughing too, quietly at first, and then louder, until tears were pricking my eyes and Kurapika and I were both clutching our stomachs.

When the laughter subsided, he squeezed my hand and nodded back down the stairwell to where our friends still were.

“Want to head down?”

I almost asked if he wanted to go upstairs and find that privacy that Hisoka had mentioned, but honestly, I would go home tonight after making out with a semi-stranger and wake up tomorrow regret-free. Better to not risk it by hooking up with him and maybe discovering that it wasn’t actually what I wanted.

My brain was still a little fried from our kiss and I could use some time to orient myself around how I felt about it. So I nodded and he started down the stairs, his grip around my hand still firm and warm and a reminder that somehow, remarkably, this was real.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Since Texas is effectively shut down at the moment, I’ve had sooooo much more time to write! I’m going to be posting as much as I can before work and school start back up again, so expect the next chapter soon! Thank you again for the support! I love reading all of your comments!! <3


	5. A Rendezvous in the Stacks

A week later I was shelving in the library, and despite my efforts, I had been unable to get that kiss out of my head.

After the party, Kurapika had walked Ponzu and I home, lingering outside with me for awhile after Ponzu had gone upstairs.

We didn’t talk much, but Kurapika left me on my doorstep with a chaste kiss to my cheek and a promise to come find me sometime soon. He had left his number with me, but I still hadn’t used it, afraid that he had given it to me without much thought, and that a text from me would be the last thing he wanted.

I should have just given him my number and this whole mess could have been avoided. 

Ponzu, Machi, and Pakunoda had all separately urged me to reach out to him. I think they were just a little too excited about meddling in my affairs, since I generally kept myself separate from drama at all costs. Normally, I was the one helping Machi hyper-analyze something Shizuku said to her, or reminding Ponzu that the only reason she didn’t have a boyfriend was because she was in a committed relationship to her thesis, and hadn’t had the spare time the last two semesters to even meet someone.

Now, the tables had flipped and they were all chomping at the bit to get their two-cents in. I had to admit, Pakunoda generally gave great advice, she was the only one who I felt weighed emotions and logic equally, so when she suggested I reach out, I actually started considering it.

But here I was now, a full week later, and it felt like too much time had passed for me to say anything.

I sighed and started moving the cart towards the end of the isle. Tonight, Joji was playing through my headphones, the slow chords of _Run_ my only companions in the stacks. Unsurprisingly, Ging had dipped once again, saying that he had forgotten to feed his cat before coming to work. I was pretty sure that he didn’t own a cat, but there was no point in calling him out on it.

Since he had skipped over Kurapika that one night and gotten an earful from me the next shift we had together because of it, he had actually been pretty diligent about making sure that the library was empty before he left. I guess he didn’t want to add to the list of reasons I should report him to our boss.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and cursed under my breath. It was about to die and I was going to be here for at least an hour. Plus, there was no way I was about to walk home alone, in the middle of the night without a phone. Campus may have been relatively safe but I wasn’t going to go looking for dangerous situations.

I sighed and headed downstairs on the elevator to where my bag was stashed behind the counter. I could plug my phone in to charge and play my music over the intercoms since no one else was left in the building. I hadn’t done it in a while because I worried that someone would hear from outside, get curious and try knocking on the doors to come in, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

The elevator doors pinged open and I walked across the open expanse of the library foyer. Our school’s library was massive, each floor reaching almost a block in length, and seven floors total. Granted, one of the floors was designated for sleeping and studying only, but the rest were filled with books. All of the study tables on the other floors were either in private rooms off of the actual floor, or shoved in between the stacks for you to stumble upon accidentally. 

I knew that people complained about getting lost in the library but I had always kind of loved it. On long nights when I needed someplace to study without distractions, the stacks were the perfect place to hide away for a time. They were their own pocket dimension, where time never really adhered to its own laws.

I reached my bag and pulled out my charger, plugging my phone into an outlet as close to the first librarian’s computer as possible.

I grabbed the intercom off of the counter, pulling it towards my phone and thankful for the ancient technology’s long-reaching cord. It was the kind of speaker that you had to press down on the button while you were talking into it for it to work, so I set a nearby stapler on the button.

The crackling of old age came through the speakers all around the library, the tinny noise bouncing off the far walls. I set my phone up underneath the mouthpiece and pressed play, and soon Joji’s voice, crackled as it may be through the shitty receiver, was floating around all seven floors of the library.

I started walking back towards the elevator when movement out of the corner of my eye made my freeze. I faced the glass doors that led outside and saw a familiar figure waving to me. I blinked, unsure if he was real or if I had just started hallucinating after thinking about him so much this last week.

Since he was still there after I had blinked my eyes open and closed a few times, I figured that he must be real. I walked over to the door and unlatched the deadbolt.

Kurapika was smiling, “May I come in?” His cheeks were flushed from the chilly night breeze, his hands tucked into a wool navy coat that was layered on top of a white tee and fitted jeans.

I moved off to the side a little so he could pass by me. The sleeve of his coat brushed against my arm as he passed and it took all of my concentration to stop the shiver that threatened to run through me at that ghost of a touch.

“What are you doing here?” I asked before I had time to consider what his answer might be, myself.

“Is it horrible to admit that I came here hoping to find you?”

“You were looking for me?”

“Well, I had hoped you would call, but since I didn’t want to wait, I decided to come and find you myself. I figured if you really didn’t want to see me, you might have left me outside.” He gestured to the doors that I had just locked behind us.

“I can still leave if you would like. I really just wanted to see you, but if you don’t want to see me just say the word and I’ll disappear forever from your sight.”

A laugh bubbled out of me. I was...happy that he came to find me. Excited. I guess my indecision had paid off.

“I think you’re being a bit dramatic, Kurapika.”

“So I can stay?”

I nodded and started off towards the elevators again and he drifted after me, shrugging his coat off and leaving it on the counter by my phone.

“Nice stereo system,” he said, and I could hear the laugh in his voice as the obviously lacking sound quality.

I shrugged, not looking back to catch his reaction, “We make do here.”

“Oh, I bet.”

I pressed the button to call the elevator and the doors dinged open. We both walked in, the inevitable silence of the space settling around us. It was just as uncomfortable as every other elevator ride I had taken with someone else, and another laugh threatened to escape me at the thought, but I managed to hold it in.

Kurapika was looking at me, some gentle emotion in his eyes that I didn’t bother finding the name for.

“What?” I asked, suddenly self-conscious.

“You’re smiling.”

My lips twitched up again at the comment. It was so sweet and innocent, so at odds with some of the words he had said at the party last week. So at odds with the words I had said then.

“Maybe I’m just really glad that you came to find me, because I have been thinking about texting you all week long and I had just decided that I had waited too long to do anything about it.”

Kurapika’s smile was lifting on one side, “It’s never too late, Y/N.”

The elevator doors opened on the sixth floor and I was saved from having to come up with a response to that. I ducked out of the doors, hoping that Kurapika hadn’t noticed the blush that had risen to my cheeks at his words.

He followed behind me as I wove through the stacks. Joji was singing _Slow Dancing in the Dark_ now, and the lyrics, “When I’m around slow dancing in the dark, don’t follow me, you’ll end up in my arms,” chased us through the isles. It felt a little too on the nose for what was on my mind.

We reached the cart that I had abandoned to go charge my phone and as I began organizing the books, Kurapika silently started grabbing titles and placing them in their spots on the shelves.

He was shooting me looks every now and then that I was catching and throwing back at him, the air between us going a little tauter with each glance. His hand would brush mine as we reached for the same book, or he would lean over to place a book on a shelf right next to me, but neither of us said a word.

It was turning out to always be a game with him. A test of wills to see who could hold out the longest and who would cave to their desires first. 

“You know,” Kurapika said, breaking the silence as he grabbed another book from the cart, “I’ve been thinking a lot about the party.”

“Oh?” I prompted when he he didn’t finish the thought.

“I’ve been thinking about that kiss, and about how there is only one thing that I really regret from that night.”

A trickle of worry ran through me at the words. Was he just here to make it clear that he didn’t feel any sort of attraction to me? Before my worry could get too out of hand, he continued, “I regret not taking Hisoka’s advice, as much as it irks me to admit it.”

Relief was making my memory foggy, “Hisoka’s advice?”

“To find somewhere private with you.” The heat from blush that was on my face spread everywhere else along my body at that.

“Well,” I said, still shelving books and making a point _not_ to look at Kurapika, “Strangely enough, we’re in a private place now.”

Kurapika grabbed another book from the cart and I saw him studying the spine out of the corner of my eye. I saw his lip twitch up into a smile for a heartbeat before he smoothed his features out again.

He walked around the cart to where I had been trying to shelve a book for the past minute and a half. I was having a hard time concentrating on numbers presently. I was facing the shelf, but could feel his body heat as he stepped up behind me, feel the _weight_ of his presence there.

An arm reached above my head, and the book he had in his hand found its home a shelf above me. His hand remained braced on the shelf after he shelved it.

I slowly turned, tilting my chin to look up at him as I did so. My back was pressed against the shelves, and he gently took my chin with his free hand, rubbing his thumb across my bottom lip. His eyes were dark with desire, and I didn’t have complete control of my hand as it reached out to brush my fingertips along his cheekbone, a feather-light touch.

He was leaning down towards me now. Slowly. Ever so slowly. My eyelids fluttered shut as he whispered the words, “Why can’t I get you out of my mind, Y/N?”

Our lips barely brushed as if in answer to his question. Every second was a tease. We were still playing the game after all.

My lips parted and I felt his do the same, a hair’s breadth of distance between us now. The hand that had been on my chin moved to run the tip of his thumb along my jawline, and goosebumps broke out along my skin. We stood and shared breath for heartbeats. For hours, perhaps. It felt like no time and all the time of the world.

This time, it was my will that crumpled first and I tilted my head to the side a centimeter and our lips fully met. I felt Kurapika’s body press against my own and both of his hands traveled down to my waist, his fingers skimming beneath the hem of my shirt.

My hands roved along the planes of his back as we kissed, tracing over his shoulder blade’s sharp edges. 

My breath hitched a little as his fingers angled down and started teasing along the hem of my jeans with little swipes of his fingertips. He pulled back from the kiss, a request for permission on his face. Breathless, I nodded and our lips met again at he unbuttoned and unzipped the tight denim.

His palm was warm as it pressed against my lower stomach, slid under the fabric of my underwear and continued down until his fingers reached the apex of my thighs. I heard his breath catch as he felt the wetness there, and after a moment’s hesitation, he started moving his fingers in slow circles.

I gasped, my head leaning back against the shelves to balance myself, mouth parted a little. Kurapika’s other hand moved to the center of my lower back, holding me up and against him. One of my hands fisted in the hair at the nape of his neck as his fingers continued their motion, and the other gripped his shoulder, my fingernails digging into the soft fabric of his tee.

His fingers slid further back and began pumping in and out, his thumb pressing against my bundle of nerves as he did so. and I couldn’t stop the little gasps that escaped my lips. He leaned his mouth down to my neck, kissing and sucking at the soft spot right above my collarbone. 

I felt my core tightening, and my thighs started clenching around his hand. He nudged my legs apart with one of his knees, positioning himself so he could still have full access to me.

His fingers pumped and my body tightened up in tandem with his movements, my breaths turning a little ragged. I climaxed in gasps and shivers as pleasure coursed through my veins.

“Kurapika,” his name was a breath on my lips as I came and his fingers worked and pumped and circled through all of my shivers. I leaned my forehead against his shoulder, my knees going weak and my body going a little limp. The hand that had been holding my back pushed my hair to the side and Kurapika pressed a kiss right below my ear on my neck, his other hand tugging free from my waistband.

When I could finally stand on my own two feet again, he dropped his arms from me and moved away, just enough that my body was cold from the loss of contact. I almost unconsciously leaned forward as he took a step back, the space separating us feeling alien against my skin.

Was he leaving? I opened my eyes that I hadn’t realized had shut at some point and saw him backing away from me.

He paused his sudden retreat for a moment, deliberation warring on his face, before stepping close to me again and pressing a kiss against my forehead like he couldn’t quite stop himself.

“I’ll see you soon, okay?” He whispered and I just nodded. Words seemed a little impossible at the moment. And then he was gone, retreating towards the stairwell before I could move myself from where I was still dazed by the shelf.

A hit and run. He was gone before I had even registered what had happened. Before I had a chance to repay the favor.

I leaned my head back against the shelf, staring up at the ceiling for a few moments and trying to sort my thoughts.

And even though there was no one there to answer except the dust mites that swirled through the air, I asked out loud, “What the fuck just happened?”

The silence seemed as good an answer as any.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m not saying that hooking up in an empty library with Joji playing in the background is my ideal situation or anything.... but I’m not NOT saying that either 👀 I’ll put myself in horny jail now, bye


End file.
